Facebook Copies Snapchat Again

Social media analysts have known about the ongoing Facebook vs Snapchat feud. Facebook has been at the top of its game ever since it launched and only continued from there. The social media giant boasts billions of users worldwide. However, Snapchat follows close behind and competes with Facebook in many ways. The most effective part of Snapchat is its uniqueness to from other social media platforms. Nonetheless, Facebook does not want a competition.

In 2013, there was a shocking revelation that Facebook tried to acquire Snapchat for a $3 billion cash acquisition. Snapchat CEO Evan Spiegel turned down the offer. He believed that trading something for short-term gains is not interesting. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg flew out to meet Spiegel at the end of 2012. He offered the $3 billion to Snapchat’s founders. When Snapchat’s founders resisted, Zuckerberg told them that they will release a nearly identical app. In Spiegel’s own words, “It was basically like, ‘We’re going to crush you.” The app that Zuckerberg was talking about is the Facebook Poke, which turned out to be a flop.

In order to regain its footing, Facebook has copied some of Snapchat’s iconic features. Facebook applied the features into their apps like Facebook, Whatsapp, and Instagram. Recently, Facebook Facebook Stories where it allows users to upload self-destructing pictures and videos within the app. This is similar to Snapchat stories, a collection of daily snaps that users send to their friends. Aside from Facebook Stories, the platform copied other features of its competitor.

Facebook vs Snapchat: Here are some of the features which Facebook copied from Snapchat

Facebook Camera Effects vs Snapchat Filters

In 2016, Facebook overhauled its in-app camera. The platform wants to embrace the augmented reality in communication which Snapchat had become a pioneer. The new Facebook Camera Effects included everything that Snapchat popularized, like animated selfie masks, filters, and overlaid graphics. Facebook also added some ‘reactive’ filters that can respond to the user’s body movements.

To Facebook’s credit, the reactive filters are actually unique to the platform. The reactive filters cover the screen where there some little-colored line patterns can disrupt the movements or cover the screen with leaves as the user waves around his arms.

Facebook Direct vs Snapchat Snaps

Facebook Direct allows users to directly send photos or videos to their friends, the exact feature of Snapchat Snaps. With Snapchat, users can view snaps for a maximum of 10 seconds. After that, the photos are gone. Anything shared through Snapchat simply self-destructs.

Facebook recently launched a new security feature in its mobile app. The company built a new feature inside Messenger called ‘secret’ messages. Along with it, Facebook will roll out a self-destruct time for these messages. Basically, it will automatically disappear after a period of time, from five seconds to 24 hours. The self-destructing method is very similar if not a clone of Snapchat’s feature.

However, Facebook’s move came after government agencies like F.B.I. debated over the users’ privacy which some criminals can exploit. Facebook stated that the option for self-destructing messages is a way to protect their users’ privacy.